Team to query Bernas over uncollected rice

Rice has been in store for almost three years.

KANGAR: A special team is to investigate the cause for Padiberas Nasional Berhad (Bernas)’s alleged failure to collect 629 metric tonnes of rice from a private rice mill.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industries secretary general Mohd Arif Ab Rahman who gave the directive for the setting up of the special team which would include an auditor, said the incident should not have occurred.

“The government was not informed about the situation; in fact the reports we had been receiving were that everything was in order,” he told reporters after visiting Kilang Beras Dibok Sdn Bhd in Behor Mali, near here yesterday.

He said he visited the factory following a media report about the piles of unclaimed rice, to see the situation for himself.

He noted that the factory would not have any space left for the paddy they would be buying from the farmers during the next harvest season if the rice which had been in the store for almost three years, was not removed.

Kilang Beras Dibok is among five factories in Perlis, that had been appointed by Bernas to process paddy bought from the farmers.

Mohd Arif said Bernas should have issued the invoice to the factory and collect the rice within two weeks for distribution to the market.

– BERNAMA